how to handle attitudes in the gym

[CoachGoofy]

I have a lot of preteens & young teenagers, and the first time I sent one to call her mom & ask if she was paying for her to practice or to argue with her coaches her mom was MORTIFIED. I have not had anything from anyone there that's not on the lower range of normal for that age snottiness since.

 

[<3gymgurl26<3]

for the examples you put, I dont get why they are giving you so much attitude!!! 3 bar routines is not a lot and being spotted for back handspring on the beam is the same, maybe almost better than using the pad!!! I agree with gympanda and GAgymmom. I also think that if they are doing this repeatedly and you have given them warnings, you should tell them "listen, I have given you many warnings and I am not asking you to do a lot. If you can't handle what I'm asking you to do, I don't think you should be involved in gymnastics anymore." Say it nice and calmly. What you are asking them to do is not a lot and it's part of the sport. The triumph can't be had without the struggle. Hope this helps and I hope your gymnasts will stop giving you a hard time and respect what you are asking them to do. If they can't handle that, they simply shouldn't be involved in the sport. Good luck and I hope this helps!!

 

[gymchick97]

At my gym we get a number of routines to do (usually 5) and for every routine we don't do we have conditioning (usually 30 super v-ups). I don't know i gymnast that likes conditioning. It motivates us to get our assignment done. You will often hear each other saying "stop talking and work" or "stop standing there in front of the bar and get on it or i will".
When a gymnast is repeatedly not doing something a coach is asking them to do they get to do a rope climb and then come back to the event. If they continue to not listen then they have to call their parents to come get them or they have to sit in the lobby. i hope this helps you!

 

[jmcauliffe]

I have read all the posts and responses about the bad behavior in your gym. It boils down to your gymnasts are being disrepectful to you and your coaches. I would definitely talk to the parents and explain the situation and inform the parents that if the behavior continues, you may have to ask the girl/s to leave practice. As a parent of an 11yr old DD, if she was being disrepectful I would want to know because not only is she wasting her time in the gym, but she's wasting the coaches time and my money. Our coach is very good at reminding the girls that it costs money for them to be in gymnastics but it also is a time commitment for the parents. Good luck and keep us posted on your results.

 

[shadow]

we just finished hosting the level 3 and 4 state meet and we haven't been back to practice yet. we are kind of waiting it out for these next few weeks or until April 1st then we are bringing all the parents, gymnasts and coaches together and explaining to everyone all the changes we are going to make. us coaches have already talked about how we are going to be a little harsher on the parents and gymnasts also because they shouldn't be getting away with what they are now. Its just too much stress for us. so as of April 1st. everything changes and i cant wait!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

we just finished hosting the level 3 and 4 state meet and we haven't been back to practice yet. we are kind of waiting it out for these next few weeks or until April 1st then we are bringing all the parents, gymnasts and coaches together and explaining to everyone all the changes we are going to make. us coaches have already talked about how we are going to be a little harsher on the parents and gymnasts also because they shouldn't be getting away with what they are now. Its just too much stress for us. so as of April 1st. everything changes and i cant wait!

stand firm buddy...stand firm.

 

[shadow]

ok, i kind of had an update. this didnt happen to me but to the head coach/owner last night at practice. It was the same girl that wouldnt do her bar routine again andi guess she was being sloppy and wasnt trying, and they have state next weekend!!! anyway the coach to her to go to beam and she wasnt going to work with her group anymore if she was going to have an attitude. so after about a half hour or so, she asked him if she could come back to bars and he told her that she was NOT invited back to bars for that practice and she was NOT going to have an attitude anymore. He finally stood up to someone!!!! i was so proud of him^^ i think after hosting the state meet finally made him realize that he has ot stand up to people and not get walked all over, all the time.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[fishchimes]

Sounds like the level 7s at my gym. It makes me so mad, because their coach is actually a very nice guy and even though he never made me feel stressed out or pressured when I worked with him, I always thought he must be a bad coach because his gymnasts were so bad at gymnastics. Now I see that he was in fact doing some decent coaching, it was just that the level 7s are so lazy; they never take any corrections and they always refuse to stretch/condition properly. With them it is not really that they are being mean exactly; they just think everything is a game, and don't want to do anything they don't consider to be "fun". And, even if he was strict enough to kick them off the team, it wouldn't work out because then he'd have like 2 gymnasts for a while, and then one of them would probably quit because she was friends with the other girls (even though I overheard them gossiping about her in the changing room--ARGH). It sounds like your team is bigger though (my gym only has about 5 level 7s), so I suggest bringing down MAJOR consequences on one or two gymnasts and see if the rest of the team gets a clue from that.

There's some of that in my level (5) as well. It really stinks, because then the people that are actually working hard have to deal with our coach getting angry at the whole team, which makes ME really angry because I think that's unfair, and then I start having bad attitude... :sorry: